Adapted from 1988 House Tour Guide

In 1884, Ellen Eliza Ward donated the first public monument in Roslyn to the memory of her late husband, General Elijah Ward (1816-1882), former Judge Advocate General of New York State, close friend of President James A. Garfield, and intermittently a member of Congress. The General Elijah Ward Post of the Grand Army of the Republic was named in his honor although, apparently, he saw no service in the Civil War.

The Horse Trough consists of two large, ashlar-surfaced, granite blocks. The lower is almost three times as large as the upper, which crosses the lower at a right angle. Each block includes a water basin. The upper basin was fitted with a fountain from which people drank. The two basins, at different levels, provided water for animals of varying height. The upper block bears only the legend "E.W. 1884" on a semi-circular, ribbon-shaped ground on its south face. The initials are Elijah Ward's and the numbers the year the monument was first dedicated. The south face also bears a U.S. Coastal & Geodetic Survey marker. This is no longer accurate as the upper block has been struck and displaced several times by trucks.

During the late 19th century, the Elijah Ward Horse Trough, or "Water Fountain" as it was called originally, provided water for more than 300 horses daily as well as for numerous cattle on their way to and from distant pasture. The need was especially great during the hot summer months when horses and cattle watered there before starting on the long, hot trek up the East Turnpike hill.

Over the years, the General Elijah Ward Memorial Horse Trough, which stands at the east entrance to Roslyn, at the intersection of Bryant Avenue, Old Northern Boulevard and Skillman Street, sank into the ground and, with the added accretion of repeated road resurfacing, the larger, lower block became almost completely concealed.

In 1987, when reconstruction of the roads that formed the intersection created a larger, well-delineated, triangular plaza, an opportunity was created to return the horse trough to its historic glory. The Roslyn Village Historic District Board recommended that the horse trough be excavated and relocated to the center of the new triangular plaza. A grant for the complete restoration and landscaping of the General Ward Horse Trough was provided by Slayton-Feldman, Inc., the developers of the adjacent Harbourview Shopping Center. Zion & Breen Associates, landscape designers for the Harbourview Shopping Center, designed the plaza, working in cooperation with the Nassau County Department of Public Works and the Roslyn Village Historic District Board.

On August 31st, 1987, more than a century after its original dedication, the Village of Roslyn rededicated the General Elijah Ward Memorial Horse Trough at ceremonies marking its re-siting and restoration. In its new, larger setting, surrounded by brick walks, spring bulbs and ivy, the Horse Trough probably never has looked so well. Among those who gathered to celebrate were two horses, "Buddy," from the Gold Coast Equestrian Center, and "Happy," who had been donated to the Nassau County's Park Department Mounted Patrol by Mrs. Nelson Rockefeller.

It is notable that Roslyn's second memorial, the much more famous Roslyn Clock Tower, also is associated with the Ward family. Donated in 1895, the Clock Tower's official name is "The Ellen E. Ward Memorial Clock Tower." It was given in memory of the General's widow by her children. The Clock Tower still stands at the intersection of Old Northern Boulevard and Main Street (TG 1971-72), at the west approach to Roslyn Village.

Horses at the trough circa 1900

The south face bears a U.S. Coastal & Geodetic Survey marker. This is no longer accurate as the upper block has been struck and displaced several times by trucks.